Take the Stage Competition

1. OVERVIEW

Welcome to Take the Stage! Take the Stage is heading into its 4th year now, and we’re excited to see what new talents await us this year. For those of you that do not know what Take the Stage is, it is a talent competition where people ranging from singing to dancing compete to take home the top awards.

2. CONTEST FORMAT

2.1 Contestants are encouraged to pre-register online for Animethon’s Take the Stage, as only a maximum of 40 entries will be accepted on a first come, first served basis. Pre-registration will close on August 4st, 2017 OR when the limit of 40 entries has been reached and accepted.

2.2 Preliminaries for Animethon’s Take the Stage will take place during the convention (Saturday, August 12, 2:00PM - 5:30PM at Room 9-211). Only contestants present for the preliminaries may advance to the finals. Please let the coordinator know if you have any preference for the time of your performance. If you are not present when called at the preliminaries for your designated time, you will be disqualified unless you have given the coordinator a 24-hour notice.

2.3 Contestants are to perform for a maximum of 3 minutes (an excerpt of your complete performance) for the preliminaries to highlight your skills and talents. During the preliminaries, if you exceed the 3-minute limit, the panelists will conclude your performance. Please perform the entire routine/song only for the finals.

2.4 There will be up to 10 Finalists chosen. Performances should be a minimum of 3 minutes and a maximum of 6 minutes for the finals.

2.5 All Finalists MUST sign-in no later than 30 minutes prior to the scheduled starting time of the finals or they will be disqualified. The performance order will be decided at random.

2.6 Take the Stage Finals will last approximately 1 hour, with an additional 30 minutes for judging. It will take place at the MPR room on Sunday August 13, from 2:00PM - 3:30PM. Check-in at 1:00PM.

2.7 The names of the finalists will be posted at the Information Desk(s) shortly after the preliminaries. The winners of Take the Stage will be announced at the closing ceremony, and may be asked to perform once more at the closing ceremony. Contestants must be present to accept the awards.

2.8 Winners of Take the Stage will be recognized with the following awards:

Master of the Stage Award

Spotlight Award

Fan Favourite Award

2.9 Audience members will also be able to take part in the judging process. Audiences will be given a ballot to vote on, and at the end of the contest there will be a box to put them in. Votes will be tallied and the results will be factored into the judging process.

3. SCORING METRICS

There are 3 aspects of your performance that the judges will score you on:

3.1 Musical Quality: For singers and instrumentalists, this is your ability to maintain the correct pitch and rhythm. For dancers, it is your ability to dance to the rhythm of the music.

3.2 Technique: Contestants are scored on how much skill is displayed on stage. Please note that more difficult songs/routines will naturally score higher in this category when comparing contestants of similar skill.

3.3 Showmanship: This is basically how you carry yourself on stage. Hand gestures, movements showing emotion for slow songs, audience interactions and such all fall into this category. It is generally a bad idea to perform a song standing still.

4. RULES

4.1 Contestant must be a registered convention attendee on the days of the preliminaries and finals in order to participate.

4.2 In the event of a cancellation or no-show at the preliminaries, parties present who did NOT pre-register for the competition will be allowed to participate until the maximum limit of 40 accepted entries has been reached.

4.3 Take the Stage currently only accepts singers, instrumentalists, and dance groups as contestants. While you are welcome to cosplay during your performance, contestants that plan on dancing or doing a musical act with costumes as a part of a skit should participate in the Cosplay Contest instead.

4.4 Only applicable to instrumentalists. Only portable instruments are allowed on stage. A portable instrument is defined as a lightweight instrument that can be easily carried by the performer, and one that only requires a microphone to project its sound on stage. Due to time constraints, electric instruments such as electric guitars that require to be plugged into the onsite sound system are not allowed.

4.5 Singing and instrumental performances are limited to either solo, duo (2 people) or trio (3 people). Non-singing backup dancers are also permitted, but performances of any kind can only have up to a maximum of a five members.

4.6 You or any other member in your group or performance can only enter once. (i.e.: You cannot enter the competition as part of a group and then as a solo entry, or as a member of multiple groups).

4.7 Songs must be from anime, Japanese video games, Japanese drama or soaps, J-pop, J-rock, J-rap, J-R&B, or Japanese folk music. English or other non-Japanese songs such as Korean from the dubbed version of an anime series, pop-culture show or Japanese video game are also acceptable. Please email the coordinator at: takethestage@animethon.org to confirm your song choice if you are unsure.

4.8 Only applicable to singers and instrumentalists. Each contestant is encouraged to prepare 2 songs in order to avoid potential duplicates in the competition. You may perform one song for preliminaries and another for finals should you become a finalist. Please indicate which song is preferred.

4.9 Confirmed pre-registered participants have until one week before the start of Animethon to change their performance songs or routines for the preliminary round. After that no changes will be accepted. Please email the coordinator at: takethestage@animethon.org to confirm your song choice and explain the time mark you plan to start and end for the preliminaries. (Note: You will be performing the full song if you get into the finals, so please provide us a full song.)

4.10 For singers that register on the day of preliminaries, please make sure that your song of choice has an instrumental version available online. An easy way to tell (besides Googling) is to search for song name + “instrumental” on YouTube.com. Singing along with the original vocals is NOT allowed. All music requires to be handed in on a USB stick in .mp3 format (at least 128kbps) at the time of your registration. You are certainly more than welcome to come sing your heart out with or without original vocals at Open Mic Karaoke (See the schedule, or website for more info)!

4.11 Performances shall contain absolutely no profanity, nudity, or overly-violent content as all performances shall be family-friendly. No exceptions. Any violation of this rule will result in disqualification and, depending on the severity of the violation, possible removal from future contest performances with Animethon.

4.12 Devices such as flash bombs, any kind of pyrotechnic device, or any type of device that causes staining, damage, or a large scattering of objects are prohibited. Scattering of some objects is allowed, but the cleaning up of said objects will cut into your 7 minutes limit. Using fire and liquids on stage are prohibited. Smoke related special effects are prohibited.

4.14 Permission is granted to Animethon to use any photographs/videos taken as future promotion material for future events and dealings. Secondary Media coverage may be present at the event. All media captured by Secondary Media will be under their rules and regulations of fair media usage and not that of Animethon’s.

4.15 All entries and performances are required to comply with all of Animethon’s Polices, which include those that apply to any weapons and props that are used in the performance.

5. HOW TO PRE-REGISTER FOR THE CONTEST

5.1 Pre-register via the website using the Take the Stage Sign-Up Form. The form will ask you for basic information such as your name, contact information, type of performance, etc. Once signed up, if we have any questions for you, we will contact you by e-mail.

6. FEEDBACK

6.1 We always welcome constructive feedback. If there is anything you think we can improve on or change please don’t hesitate to let us know, as this competition cannot happen without everyone’s support.